Russia’s FSB mulls ban on ‘Tor’ online anonymity network

The head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) has personally ordered preparations for laws that would block the Tor anonymity network from the entire Russian sector of the Internet, a Russian newspaper reported.

FSB director Aleksandr Bortnikov announced the initiative at a
recent session of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, saying
that his agency would develop the legislative drafts together
with other Russian law enforcement and security bodies, the
widely circulated daily Izvestia reported.

The news was disclosed after the Russian civil movement ‘Head
Hunters’ wrote a letter to the FSB with a request to block Tor,
as it is one of the favorite software tools for distributors and
users of child pornography. The FSB replied that the request was
directed to the wrong body, as crimes against public health and
morals fall under the Interior Ministry’s jurisdiction. The
agency, however, informed the activists about possible future
changes to the legal code.

The FSB official said that the agency initiated the move as
internet anonymizers were used by weapon traffickers, drug
dealers and credit card fraudsters, giving the FSB an obvious
interest in limiting the use of such software.

At the same time, an unnamed source told the newspaper that not
all Russian security specialists welcomed the idea, as various
criminals often overestimated the protection provided by the
Undernet, acted recklessly and allowed themselves to get caught.
The blocking would require the development of some new methods of
search and control in new anonymity networks that would appear
soon after the Russian audience loses access to existing ones,
the source noted.

The head of the Head Hunters group, Sergey Zhuk, also said that
in his opinion, total blocking was not a very good idea and that
he personally would prefer the networks’ owners be compelled to
cooperate. At the same time, the activist said that the fact that
Tor contains the largest child porn archives on the planet was a
sufficient condition for demanding it be blocked. He added that
if Tor is eventually outlawed in Russia this would not be the
fault of the country’s legislators, politicians or activists, but
solely the fault of stubborn owners of Tor.

The director of the Safe Internet League – a voluntary censorship
group that unites several Russian ISPs – told reporters that his
organization supported the idea to outlaw Tor, but added that
this should be done after all pedophiles, perverts, drug dealers
“and other creeps” are disclosed, caught and jailed.

Lower House MP Ilya Kostunov noted that the problem was important
but doubted that it was technically executable. “As far as I
know, it is impossible to block Tor,” Kostunov said. “The
network re-tunes quickly, switches to different hubs and starts
working again.”

The Tor Project administration also said that the blocking of the
system was extremely difficult, adding that even Tor’s own
specialists could not control the information flowing through
their servers or identify users.

Russian law enforcers are not the only specialists concerned by
Tor’s popularity and the seedy segment of its
users.